13 Ways to Move Your Facebook Fans to Action

Perhaps you have a Facebook Fan Page and even some fans. But now what? How can you encourage your fans to act and interact?

In my prior post I covered the various sources and types of content you can post on your Facebook fan page. I also talked about the importance of consistent updates.

However, just like the “Field of Dreams” – if you build a fantastic fan page with plenty of quality content, will they come and will they stay?

They will come and they will stay if you give your fans good reason to engage.

Given that over half of Facebook’s 400 million active users log in daily and spend an average of 55 minutes per day on the site, you can get your target audience to spend some of that time getting to know you, your brand, your products and services.

The secret is to create a fan page with the right blend of ingredients that resonates most with your ideal fans. And to ensure they’re made to feel a strong part of your online community.

As mentioned in Part 1, I’ve found there are essentially two components to Facebook fan page engagement: 1) Sharing quality, relevant content and 2) inciting comments. So, here in Part 2, we’ll talk about just how vital comments (and likes, wall posts and @ tags) are to the success of your fan page.

Now that you have a wide variety of regular, quality, relevant content posting on your fan page, here are some ways to get your fans to interact:

1. Ask questions

For status updates, try ending with a question. In the example below, Best Buy generated 274 responses so far to their question about what feature your can’t live without on your phone.

2. Use the words “you” or “your”

Use the word “you” often – “What are your thoughts?” “What do you think about xyz?” Here, the Hard Rock Cafe is giving out a coupon code with the words “Our gift to you because you rock…”

3. Keep it short

The easier it is for your fans to read, the more likely they are to respond. Keep your status updates short and simple with one topic. You have up to 420 characters per update, but I recommend about half that for an ideal size. For longer updates, use the Notes app – or write a blog post and update.

4. Post in high-traffic windows

Get to know when your fans are most responsive. Depending on in which part of the world the majority of your fans are, you might want to post between 9:00am and 2:00pm in your timezone.

5. Respond promptly

Do your best to respond to fan questions (as wall posts) as promptly as possible. If you find you can’t keep up with the volume of questions, offer a free teleseminar or webinar where you answer the top questions for your fans. You can do this in the traditional way of having people opt-in to get the phone number so you’ll build your email list at the same time.

6. Address fans by name

Come back and reply often to your fans’ comments – Facebook currently doesn’t have threaded commenting, so I suggest addressing specific fans in your comments as @name. See my comment at the bottom of the screenshot below:

7. Comment yourself

Add your own comment as needed to get the ball rolling. However, don’t step in too soon. I often find that the comments come more freely when you allow your fans to run by themselves initially.

8. Thank your fans

9. Surprise your fans

Don’t be afraid to stray “off topic” from time to time and surprise your fans. In other words, your content doesn’t always have to be directly related to your product or service. You might share an inspirational quote and add your own thoughts, for example.

If you happen to know a fan’s Twitter ID, send a tweet thanking her/him for the comment on your fan page. With a link of course.

10. Use @ tagging

You can tag other fan pages that you’re a fan of and your own friends (along with Groups you belong to and Events you’ve RSVPed for). When appropriate, and used sparingly, @ tags can be a very powerful way to have your post show up on others’ walls, which gives you more exposure and brings more fans or potential fans back to engage.

11. Use the Discussion Board

Give your fans a place to network with one another. Plus, often fans want to do self-promotion. You can encourage these types of activities on a specific discussion thread. Also, when you first launch your fan page, be sure to start 3 to 5 discussion topics so it’s not a blank tab.

In this example, the most popular discussion thread on Chick-fil-A’s fan page is asking their fans where they’d most like to see a Chick-fil-A next. Topics are always listed in order of the most recently commented on.

12. Send updates to fans

Each tab on your fan page and each discussion thread topic has its own unique URL. To bring fans back to your page to contribute to a discussion and get them more engaged, send out an update with a call to action and specific link. (To find the Update feature, click Edit Page under your image then look for Send Update to Fans on the right of your Admin page.)

13. Monitor insights

If you’re a perfectionist, the goal is to get 5 stars and a perfect 10 score! Facebook uses algorithms to calculate your Post Quality as determined by the percentage of your fans who engage when you post content, calculated on a rolling seven-day basis. The number of stars depends on how your Post Quality compares to similar pages (for example, pages that have a similar number of fans).

The more activity your fan page posts generate, the longer you’ll show up in the News Feed of your fans!

As you build up your fan base, consistently add quality, relevant content and engage your fans. You’ll start to see results that translate into an increase in brand awareness and positive brand sentiment, email and blog subscribers, and of course, sales and paying customers.

Mari Smith is a widely-recognized social media speaker and trainer, author of The New Relationship Author, and coauthor of “Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day.” Follow Mari on Twitter: @marismith. Other posts byMari Smith »

Sally

Great post as always, Mari. (That takes care of tips #5,6 & 8. Now on to #1 and #2…) Which poll app do you recommend for FB — and what (or where) is the best way to install it? Do you need to create a new tab? We’re looking for something that’s interesting and looks good but isn’t too difficult to install. We already have experience with creating a welcome page, so we’re not complete beginners. Thanks in advance!

Truffulatuft

Can you explain more about the @tagging and how it makes your message show up on other walls?

http://www.glorysgirl.com/ Ashley Messick

One thing that we’ve thought helps (and we should do more) is posting items that people would want to share on their own walls and even encouraging them to do so when appropriate. That way you are reaching their friends who are not yet a fan of your page. They can’t use the share feature with your status updates but they can with links, pics, and videos.

Great post Mari. Thanks so much!

http://www.iwritemarketing.com CarlPhelps

Awesome post! Just implemented some ideas I got from here such as asking a question, thanking a fan, starting a new discussion topic – based on a question, and sending an update. These things are so easy and can make a huge difference.

@Ashley I was wondering how to make the jump from increased engagement to new fans, this is a great idea. Does anyone have any other ideas about generating new, targeted fans from the increased engagement?

http://www.pizzutistudios.com/ Rich Pizzuti

Great post, so very informative!

kgphotography

thank you for this post; I will get to work today!

http://my168project.com/ Matches Malone

It follows that to do this, one would need to have some fans on Facebook.

Truffulatuft

Something that has worked well for us is IRL collaboration on a project (like a photoshoot) then all participants (photographers, models etc.) posting pictures on their own sites/FB etc, with links to each other. If you collaborate with people that already have a good fan base, this can really jump your numbers. Example: http://www.organicarmor.com/blog/2010/02/winter-goddess/

http://www.twitter.com/gingeranderson Ginger

Great article, but I have a question on the Post Quality. You mentioned, “If you’re a perfectionist, the goal is to get 5 stars and a perfect 10 score! Facebook uses algorithms to calculate your Post Quality…”

I’ve found that the Post Quality goes way beyond 10 – I’ve gotten to as high as 40, but I can’t find the scale, “top number” or what we should be aiming for. I’d love more information on that Insight.

Thanks!

sally

Thanks Carl, how does it compare to Polldaddy and some of the other apps out there? I took a quick look at the FB app yesterday and the results didn’t pop up as easily as some of the others. Also, there was a notice about needing my email address or something.

http://www.thesweetchef.com/ April

Wow! Great content. Information I can use now. Thank you so much!

http://twitter.com/howdoimarketbiz Joann Whetstine

Love it! Great tips as usual. I find that just asking the person for what you want is effective. ie.) “We welcome your comments”. “What do you think?” “Please share your photos with us.” They just need a little prompting.

http://www.myrlandmarketing.com/ Nancy Myrland | Marketing & So

Mari, WOW! Once again, you have done an amazing job of instructing us on how to maximize these wonderful communication tools we call Social Media. Outstanding!!! Thanks!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Sure – this is a relatively new addition to Facebook’s arsenal of tools; the @ tagging feature was inspired by Twitter. The objective is to let your friends know when you are mentioning them in your status updates. You can tag up to six people in any update. @ tags work in the publisher on both fan pages and profiles. You can also tag fan pages you’ve joined, events you’ve RSVP’d to and groups you’re a member of – the six max per post still applies.

Now, whether the post shows up on your friend or the fan page you tagged depends on how the other party has their settings configured. Generally speaking, you’ll find any @ tag you do does show up on your friend’s wall or fan page you tagged.

How it works: as soon as you type an ‘@’ symbol in the publisher (the place where you post updates/content), a drop down menu loads and when you begin typing the name of the friend or fan page (or group or event), you’ll be able to select it from the menu and it populates and turns blue. When you click the Share button, that entire post automatically appears on the friend/fan page wall(s) you tagged.

However, you might check out instead/as well the Poll app offered by http://involver.com – they offer a suite of fan page apps both free and paid (the Poll app is part of the pro tools).

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Excellent tip, Ashley!! The Share feature (kind of like Twitter’s retweet?!) is fairly new as you know. I import my Twitter favorites RSS feed via the Notes app so the Comment / Like / Share comes in too!

http://www.denisewakeman.com DeniseWakeman

I often post quotes on weekends an am amazed at how much response they get. People love to be inspired. I attempt to keep them on a them that is related to taking action, implementing ideas, etc. I’ve found the discussion board doesn’t get much traction, so maybe I need to be more proactive about sending people there for specific discussion topics.

One question, do you recommend Events be set up through the Fan page or the profile page or both? Been wondering about that for getting maximum results and interaction.

Thanks for another great article, Mari. Blog on!

http://www.DakotaHeartScents.com/ LaDonna

Mari, Thank you for the info to engage your fans on FB! I have been contemplating a fan page for awhile now. Your helpful tips will make taking that step simpler.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Thank you kindly, Carl! Glad you enjoyed the post and took action right away. Love it!

Great question re creating new fans from the increased engagement; that Share feature is ubiquitous – it’s on everyone’s profile, fan page, event, group, photo, video, link and note!! Regards contests, Facebook does allow us to make becoming a fan part of a contest (it’s the only thing they allow re contests, unless you’re spending big bucks on ads!!) — so you could encourage your fans to use the Share feature and/or @ tag in their status update (tag your fan page) and get their friends to come join your page to enter a contest (that you have on a special landing tab).

trantastico

Great list. A very practical how-to list that I’ll be sharing with friends who’ve asked me the same question. Thanks!

http://twitter.com/mariansparks marian sparks!

@marismith Your step by step: how to tag on Facebook” helps! I knew how to tag photos just not how w/in publisher. Thanks again Mari!

http://xtremedealclosersmakeover.com/ Michael Moreno

AWESOME Content Mari as always…Super Helpful!

I really like the insight!

BTW I follow all your Tweet, such helpful resources

Have a Fantastic Day!

Mike

p.s. I have sent I don’t know how many people to follow you and stay in the conversation with you, they are Loving it

http://CindyRatzlaff.com Cindy Ratzlaff

Great post and very actionable ideas, as always, Mari. I’m using these on my Facebook Fan page, http://Facebook.com/QueenofYourOwnLife now and have really been able to nurture some terrific conversations. I find it especially important to acknowledge those fans who take the time to come to my page and post comments. I want them to know how much I appreciate that extra effort. Because of this, my fan base has grown rapidly and I find I’M so excited to read my page everyday because of the wonderful fans there. I’ve always followed your advice, Mari, to be yourself, share your ideas and really have a conversation.

http://xtremedealclosersmakeover.com/ Michael Moreno

@marismith I’m going to Tweet this and share this with my following…

Take Care Mari…

http://twitter.com/monaspoeticwax Mona C

Great information, Mari. Thanks for sharing. The tips provided are useful and easy to implement. You have given me tons of things to think about. Do you have specific ideas on increasing fan base?

http://thefranchiseking.com/about-joel-libava-the-franchise-king The Franchise King

Mari, You are just so good when it comes to FB. Thank you! I always use your tips….

http://NaomiTrower.com Naomi Trower

Ohh Mari! I have a question about the Send an Update to Fans feature. How does that update get to them? Does it go to their Facebook email box? I wasn’t sure if that was an effective feature. If I knew what form they receive it, that might help me more. I look forward to your response.

http://twitter.com/gthead Gavin Head

Another awesome post Mari! You always provide great insight and advice. Thanks and keep it coming! By the way, I love that you used Chick-fil-A’s fan page as a positive example. They will be thrilled to know that.

Miho K

Thank you for the great tip, Mari.

I still have some questions on @tag. As a Fanpage admin, when you type “@”, a drop down menu loads only admin’s friends and fanpages. Is there anyway we can have our posts appear on one/some of our fan’s wall?

Michael French

Excellent list. I’ve found that asking questions generates a lot of activity, but had not considered #9 and #10. For #11, how have you driven visitors to the discussion? The discussion tab left alone seems difficult for people to access. In my experience, the wall is where the activity seems to focus.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

LOL – very true Mr Batman!! It can take time to build up a loyal fanbase on Facebook but can certainly be done by providing consistent quality content and regularly interacting with what fans are there and encouraging them to help you spread the word. Also, making sure to promote your fan page across all other online & traditional mediums – your email signature file, ezine, blog, business card, store signage… you name it!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Brilliant strategy!!! Love it!! This really demonstrates the power of community and how much people are tribal and love to belong to a group and support one another!! Genius! (Stunning example – oh my, might have to go on a wee shopping spree!! ha!)

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Thank you kindly, Ginger – aha, then I’m on a mega mission to find the accurate information. Stay tuned and thanks for pointing this out!!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Truly my pleasure hon – thanks for the enthusiastic comment!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

That is so true, Joann — same idea as ending a blog post with an invitation to comment. Or being sure to include a call to action in emails.

http://www.tylerandmimiford.com Tyler Ford

Thanks for sharing. This helps. Just setting up my fan page now and need all the help I can get.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Hey Naomi – aha, yes the Updates to Fans is a tad obscure. I suspect Facebook actually want Page Admins to use the feature less because they moved the link from just under the Edit Page link to in behind the Admin area.

Updates don’t go to fans’ regular Facebook email box; but they do go to a subsection – if you look over on the left at the folders, you’ll see Updates. That’s were everything goes sent from fan pages you’re a fan of. Thing is, most peeps don’t really read them – I know I don’t (yikes, I just checked and have nearly 4,000 unread Updates!!) So I rarely send updates myself. However, I have spoken to a few folks who get huge mileage and traction from including say a weekly Update to fans… it just depends.

Facebook want us to use the viral visibility tools more than the “behind the scenes” communication, because it simply serves the platform’s growth better – more content and interaction out in the open, the more activity goes in the News Feed of fans and the more Facebook users hang around on the site… and view/click on ads (read: revenue for Facebook to keep the site going!!)

So, take a look at your own Updates folder and as you look at the subject lines, open and read the content, notice how the messages make you feel… look for things you like and don’t like and that can provide some guidance for a strategy you might want to roll out. Also, do a survey too – just pop a question on your fan page status update asking your fans if they ever read their fan page updates. In fact, I’m going to do that too. ha!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Aw, thanks, Gavin!! I’m a mega uber fan of Chick-fil-A. Back in ’04 I think it was, I got to see founder Truett Cathy and his family win an award at the Smart Marriages Conference for the difference his company makes to couples. It was a really proud and touching moment. He’s a true visionary.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Ohhhh, great point – you’re absolutely right. Well, I do highly recommend all fan pages have a minimum of two Admins – so one workaround would be to add any of your team as Admins with their permission of course. What this means though is anytime these other Admins go to post on your wall, they will be doing so as the fan page, not themselves. Otherwise, there really is no way to @tag any non-friend of the Admin.

Dave Kerpen

Hey Mari – fantastic post! Will share via Twitter now and Facebook tomorrow during peak times On the post quality question, I have the same question out to Facebook as several clients have inquired. I have seen post quality as high as 100 but it’s usually between 1 and 20. The post quality number is currently very hard to compare across Pages because it takes category and number of fans into count. Much better to just use stars

Susan Critelli

Hi Mari,

What a wonderful post – so helpful! I agree with Michael French, above, about discussions. Eager to hear how you drive people to the discussion.

ps- never thanked you for the “wee” Christmas gift. What a sweet surprise!

http://webzter.net George Manlangit

As usual, my hats off to a fantastic article from the diva.

For me, #1 & #2 is really the foundation. I’ve seen some pages where it’s about them having ‘star’ status. SM is about the reverse. Give to Engage.

The @tags concept is new to me. Shoot. It shows I’m not keeping up with the dev team.

Michael French has an excellent question regarding discussion. At some point, I was thinking of moving the Discussion after the Info tab but decided to go with the Video more on a page that I created. I think it depends on how you want to engage your fans. One could show the link of the discussion topic on the Wall to start the conversation. Only my thought on it.

http://www.inkatechnology.co.uk/ Inkatechnology

Great tips, Facebook fan page really can help to landing visitors on your website. thanks

http://twitter.com/mybellavita Cherrye Moore

Thank you so much for the helpful tips. It is so nice to find information like this easily available for those of us who tend to “fall behind” in social media/networking!

http://twtrcoach.com TwtrCoach

Hi Mary…

You are just a Sweet Hart.. Most definitive the to go to person for Facebook info… You rock my friend!

A couple of questions here for you.

I see that when you first have created a fan page you are kind of stuck with that. So find myself that would liked to done some minor changes to my fan title, but can’t do so. Should I start a new fan page then, and what is the best approach to bring the momentum you have from your existing fan page to the new one?

One thing I also kind of want to move away from is the tight relationship between my personal profile and my fan page. So should I create new more ‘business’ profile on Facebook and attach any new fan pages to this or?

Cheers.. Are

Truffulatuft

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this.

————————————————–

tom janneck

Dear Mari: I am going to make it a point to get to know you and your advice avenues. Just reading a few of your articles and going through the comments people post, makes me believe you are the one I can learn from.

I want to start my first blog, become familiar with faceplace, and expand into a livelihood–from scratch. This is the time for being “green”, eh?

peace2ya

TomJanneck

socialactivist

This is very useful, as always Mari, to add I also do a quick chat to my IM’s before a post, since I already have a captive audience. It is how I define peak for my fanbase.

Miho K

minimum of two Admins! I have never thought of the idea. It is like choosing most loyal customers/fans who can spread the word more.

Thank you again, Mari!

http://www.masstransmit.com/ Adam Q. Holden-Bache

Nice list- it helped generate a couple new ideas. Although no matter how well you post you still need a receptive audience. Any tactic can get stale after multiple uses, so its important to keep mixing it up. I also find a special offer or giveaway helps re-engage followers. We typically see an upswing in feedback in the posts following giveaways.

colleenpf

Great tips, several of these I’ve tried. Frustrating though when you ask a question and get no response. Especially since I’ve see the same question posted elsewhere with many responses. Do you suggest deleting such a post and trying again, or just post different questions?

http://NaomiTrower.com Naomi Trower

Hmm..Mari, I still don’t see the Updates folder. Is that on my personal profile or personal home page? Still scratching my head on this one. I see it on my fan page but I want to see updates that people have sent to me.

OH WAIT! I see the update folder under Messages on the my home page! I didn’t see it before until now! Interesting!

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ Michael A. Stelzner

Colleen – When you post your question you can pick categories in which it fits AND invite your own network to reply. Have you tried varying the categories and inviting people to reply?

colleenpf

Michael I don’t see an option to pick a category and invite replies when making a post. How is that done?

http://www.danielmunday.com/ Daniel Munday

Thankyou for this list I will be trying to implement some of these ideas more often

http://mkBeautyZone.com/ Kristie Sloan

Yes, it will be great to find the info! I just recently set up my Fan Page, and have a handful of fans. Today I have jumped to 5 Stars and a 63.1 score. I thought I must have read it wrong, but it still looked like that when I went back!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Well hidden, eh!! Facebook for sure want our communication to be all out in the open.

okidokie

Michael – this is my question too. How to direct fans to the discussion?

Can fans be directly contacted through the fan page to alert them to a new discussion post?

Mari, this is a GREAT blog and your advice is excellent. Thanks! Lisa

http://www.greatwildoutdoors.com/ Justin Rains

Can you @ a fan? I tried that and it seemed to only pull up my friends. Maybe that has changed now.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jake-Bergen/1210244591 Jake Bergen

@marismith This is a fantastic post, I appreciate the clarity and simplicity of of the tips. I am a reasonably experienced with social media and I picked up a couple if nice tidbits here. Thanks!

@Adam Q. Holden-Bache So true, many people tend to think that just participating in the social media world will produce results. Possessing the discipline to put thought and effort into social media strategies to keep it fresh is huge!

Thanks for the great post, I will be using some of your ideas for my company fan page!

http://www.wheresmrpeabody.com/ Mark Samu

What is the etiquette of putting posts on Fans and Friends pages?

colleenpf

Can you please explain how to do this?

http://www.brandcraftinc.com/ Jim @brandcraftinc

Good points- too often we see clients just shouting about sales and buy buy buy! Sometimes it take them a while to understand that the less you shout, the more people listen

http://www.potatostrong.com/ Will Kriski

It seems to take a little while to start getting engagement from fans but asking questions is a great way to do it. I have a growing and engaged facebook fan page but found this article very helpful. As I start to get blatant self-promotion from other guitarists/teachers I like the idea of giving them an outlet in a discussion forum.

I would add that you can use facebook ads to grow a following (that some of you don’t have) – it works great and you can target specific people.

Also I post content from other people’s sites as I see myself as a filter of great content – building myself as a trusted coach/advisor/teacher and saving people lots of wasted time searching for good guitar lessons

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

That is SO true, Jim!! Amen. It’s the Law of Reciprocity… or the act of building Social Equity.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Mike – I think you’re thinking of LinkedIn. There is no such feature on Facebook.

Colleen – I know for me, sometimes I am unable to keep up with every single question on my own Fan Page; I’m at the point of hiring a person dedicated to managing my Fan Page, but never speaking as me, only as them. If ever you ask a question – on any page (or blog!), my advice hands down is a) never take it personally; likely the lack of an answer was a either a total oversight and b) don’t be afraid to ping the person again, e.g. if someone asks me a Q on my Fan Page and then asks it again (to come to the top of the wall) or tweets or DMs me as a ping, I am happy to go right away and answer.

Hope this helps!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Oh sweet!! That’s awesome to know, Jake!! You rock!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Hey Colleen – oopsie, here’s a perfect example of exactly what you were asking. See my reply to your comment above. And great job asking again!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Cool!! Feel free to tweet or DM me with your company’s fan page link when ready and I’ll take a quick peek. @marismith

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Hey Mark – hmmm, good question. I’m guessing you’re meaning like posting links, wall comments, photos and videos? There is also the etiquette of @ tagging.

For me, I always like to put myself in the other person’s shoes and think about how the post is coming across – does it feel like having an agenda? Is it ego-based or helpful? Is it a win:win for all? It can be a fine line and everyone has their own style. But, really, simple common courtesy prevails every time.

Hope this helps!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Mike, You are a gem among gems. Thank you so much. I look forward to the day we meet IRL cuz it’s long overdue now!!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Aha – you cannot @ tag a fan … unless they are also your friend. You can @ tag up to six times in any post with a combo of friends, fan pages you’re a member of, groups you’re a member of and events you’ve RSVP’d for.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Okay, I’ve dug around a bit more and it seems the sky is the limit for that coveted Post Quality number!!

First, here is Facebook’s own definition:

Post Quality score measures how engaging your Posts have been to Facebook users over a rolling seven-day window. Post Quality is an important indicator for how fans gauge your posts. This score is calculated with an algorithm that takes into account your number of posts, total fan interactions received, number of fans, as well as other factors.

Post Quality scores can potentially be improved by:

* Making sure that your posts, whether they are Wall posts, photos, or videos, are relevant to your fans. Disseminating interesting and meaningful content is the best way to get people to interact with your Page. * Not posting an overwhelming amount of low quality content. It is better to provide interesting posts, less frequently than it is to rapidly publish less engaging material. * Increasing your total fan base to garner more total interactions (create an ad link).

I can’t quite find anything definitive about the Stars. But apparently that compares your Post Quality rating to fan pages of a similar size.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Hi Michael! Yes, you’re right about the discussion tab being a bit lost “behind” the wall… but there can be creative uses. I did a test the other day, by way of example — I put out this tweet:http://twitter.com/marismith/statuses/9602927642

…and that bit.ly link goes directly to the thread on my Discussion board that asks my fans for their Twitter ID. I immediately got 11 new fans/posts onto the board… all of which go out into their feeds.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

You totally rock, Cindy!! You’re one of my fave peeps and it’s a joy to see you expanding your own reach cuz you have much magic to share!!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Great question, Mona — there is a post on SocialMediaExaminer here on 5 ways to increase your fans…. look out for more coming very shortly!!

colleenpf

Thanks Mari!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

“People love to be inspired.” – SO true, Denise!! Great idea to keep the quotes relevant.

Regards setting up Events – I tend to recommend going with the Fan Page; that way it keeps the Event in the business genre. I wouldn’t do both. To promote an Event on your profile created by your fan page – use the Share button and the @ tag in status updates periodically. (You can @ tag Events!)

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Ahh, you’re very welcome for the wee Christmas pressie!

See my reply above to Michael – I did a wee experiment to illustrate my suggestion.

If you really don’t like the existing parameters of a fan page and don’t have that many fans, indeed the best option may well be to start a new one. Otherwise, if it’s going well with momentum already, I wouldn’t worry about it.

The only tight relationship between your profile and fan page is that you’re the Admin and cannot post on your own fan page as your personal profile (which, in essence, helps make your profile private as you wish). Otherwise, nobody necessarily knows what your personal profile is.

Once you have a personal profile (everyone over 13 is allowed one only), you cannot set up a Business Account. Those are only for individuals/companies who do not wish to have a personal profile so that they can set up a fan page and buy ads. The Business Account is extremely limited; you can’t add friends or view profiles in the traditional manner.

I got some response on Twitter regarding my questions here to you. So was not alone wondering about these Facebook questions.

Got some on Facebook that sent some info about a Facebook Gold account. And since I had not seen you written anything about this or had no info about this I tried to check what in the world that was all about. But as far as I can see Facebook don’t offer any Gold accounts. Was not sure if might was some kind of phishing attempt. Are you familiar with any Facebook Gold accounts? or is this some phishing / scam attempt ??

Learning a lot from you Mari. And I will follow your advice here, and not worry about it. Just keep working on the momentum I have for my fan page.

Cheers.. Are

http://www.bfhp.org/ Joanna Lavenberg

Any special suggestions for nonprofits using Facebook and Twitter? Especially on how to begin engaging fans in discussions.

http://www.designsoftstudios.com/Services/Link-Building-Service Link Building Service

I m using face book for while now and has a huge fan list but use less they are. Really great suggestion thanks for posting.

mosesadrien

Great post. This comes in handy especially as I have just created a facebook fanpage a month ago and I’ve been trying to fins way to continue interaction with my fans.

I’m new to the FB concept. Somehow I’ve managed to set up three different FB accounts for my pizzeria. When I try to go in and delete it states it will delete my personal account too. What have I done wrong, and how can I fix it? Thank you. P.S. I LOVE your posts, they are so helpful.

Guest

Great article! Another way I generate traffic to FB is through events. I host events, invite my fans to attend, take event photos, and post those photos for all of my fans to view later. It’s a very personal way to build a community. Of course, this isn’t possible with global businesses, but it works well for me!

Jamil

Hi, I love your post, great tips. Can you tell me how to invite people from outside my friends list to join my page, become my fan?

http://www.banburyshireinfo.co.uk/ Ian

Thanks Mari reference the @ tagging feature. Excellent tip

mudfooted

Thanks! Great resource. I hope @tagging will be also possible for replying to comments of my fans. Do you know anything about that? Thanks again!

http://www.ableitsolutions.com/seo-services.php SEO optimization

Hey thanks mari…!!!great article…

http://www.designsoftstudios.com/ Flash Designer UK

Hi mari its interesting post and thanks for sharing

http://www.realestatetg.com/ Ramadan Radwan

i would like to take some times to thank you for this great information.

saad_sinpk

instead of doing this i recommend u to buy fans from Socialkik.com because i buy 10,000 fan from them and they give me in few days and take very low price ! I highly recommend them : http://www.socialkik.com

http://www.kmag.co.uk rachelknowledge

Hi Mari, very useful post as usual I have a question. I wanted to @tag another fan page. Our fan page is linked to my personal page, and when I put ‘@’ in the publisher it just gives me the option to add from my personal page friends list rather than the fan page that I have ‘liked’ in order to @ tag them in a post. What am I doing wrong?

http://www.k9puppy.co.uk Dogs

Its really good news for the users and users are benifitted from that.

earl

Thanks for sharing Mari. But I have a question. Which is more relevant and create better awareness about a product/service, and also generate better post quality?

Its a very useful, as always Mari, to add I also do a quick chat to my IM’s before a post, since I already have a captive audience.Flash Designers UK

http://www.katefosson.com Kate Fosson

Thanks for the info! I’m bookmarking this article (along with all of the others from SME)!

Scott C.

You have a great site, format is well done and you keep your topics interesting and informative. Thanks for your hard work!

http://www.livyahyarn.com Sriga

nice info- I am finding out that facebook is really pretty complex if you want to use it really well. Thanks for your help.

Misty34NY

We purchased 5000 Facebook fans from http://www.socialkik.com and after they started delivering fans to our Facebook page, we started seeing tons of visitors coming from facebook to our site and some of them turned out to be regular customers. The fans that Socialkik delivered were 100% real and they’re quite active on our page wall. They’re real because they don’t join the page unless they check and like the page after receiving the suggestion from Socialkik.com. It was by the best marketing investment that we made… way better than our traditional advertising campaigns.

Rahul

Thanks for this insight – “The more activity your fan page posts generate, the longer you’ll show up in the News Feed of your fans! ” – new to me

http://www.wheelmax.com Wheels For Sale

Facebook does allow us to make becoming a fan part of a contest (it’s the only thing they allow re contests, unless you’re spending big bucks on ads!!) — so you could encourage your fans to use the Share feature.

How about give aways and interactive contests as a method – such as First2Click. First2Click is a competitive contests site that uses Facebook and Twitter to launch new contests. First2Click contests are not your typical online contest, they are engaging, fun and exciting for participants, and involve quickness, strategy, and competition! They are an excellent tool for stimulating social community – interacting with and bringing the social audience to the brand, products, and services being promoted by the contest sponsor. This is a very unique promotional platform that brings a new combination of dynamics to the consumer promotional experience. You can see it at http://www.First2Click.net

Thanks for your blog article, Eric

http://www.deaddogdesign.net/ Garen Arnold

Did you know you can’t suggest to your friends anymore. Or maybe my FB is screwed up I don’t know. Is anyone else experiencing this?

http://www.socialmedia.biz/ JD Lasica

You can’t tag another Page as a brand with a Page. You can only tag other Pages as a person.

http://twitter.com/Doodle_Today DoodleToday.com

Another way is to buy facebook fans.

I could deliver to a facebook page more than 250 untargeted worldwide fans for $5.

You can only “share” the page now. The link is toward the bottom to the left. I think if you choose to post to your wall and then @ tag your friends it’s like suggesting it still.

Anais

How many times a day should you post to Facebook?

Rozbuch

Great information. A quick question on the numbers: In your Part One post of January 2010, you stated 350 million facebook users with an average daily session of 25 min. Then in this one 400 million facebook users with over half with an average daily session of 55 min. Is the current number most accurate?

Hi marie , its so good to see your fan Base here and I would like to be part of your tradition. I’m Dean Intern and i’m pursuing my MBA. my project is to make Facebook work active for the Current students. I need something to work quick for me – how should I engage studetns fast though i keep posting few things but got no response in a simple way like — “”” Guys SOM wants to undergo some drastic changes with some of the school activities .. scribble down ur suggestions.. Lucky one will be chosen and contacted soon . “”

metrivers

I really enjoyed this article. It was very informative. I’m looking to increase my activity online for branding purposes & your article simply gave me confirmation of the why to. Take Care, Met Rivers

Hello Mari and thank you for your great article. I really enjoyed all your tips and I will try to put them into practice for the fan page of my company I’ve seen few websites “selling Facebook fans”. I was planning to buy 1000 worldwide Fans from this fan provider : http://www.easy-fans.com / It seems pretty nice and professional. Their customer support replied to my message pretty fast. What do you think of buying fans ? I know they won’t be as active as organic fans, but in order to boost the number of fans it might interesting no ?

Anyway, thank you for taking time to share your articles with us. Wish you a great evening.

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